paper lanterns
by sakuraxkisu
Summary: Once upon a time, in a July 7th from long ago, she would’ve been the one writing about a place in the clouds where it was just herself and him.


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**paper lanterns.**

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It was a warm summer night of the _tanabata _festival, she noted mildly, watching the children laugh loudly and young girls writing about their idolised ones on _tanzaku_.

'Is it really so hard to believe that I used to be like those young girls once? That I dreamt of a prince charming coming to whisk me away to his faraway land, and that we'd live happily ever after?' She wondered, looking at one 13 year old girl writing on her _tanzaku_, her hand moving swiftly as her cheeks flushed deeper.

Sakura wasn't so different from that 13 year old girl. She was once like this girl; in a time that felt _too_ long ago, she would've been the one writing on tanzaku about her dreams of a place where it was herself…and him.

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When she thinks of Sasuke, she can only remember the pleasant moments, when it was just her, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and him, and in a way, she's thankful for that. She'd rather think of the moments where Naruto and Sasuke were too immersed in their own rivalry and Kakashi-sensei was too immersed in his books, not the bloodshed and tears and that _quiet, ambiguous whisper in the middle of the night_.

But even the smallest thought about that night and those few words with so many different meanings triggered the too-familiar ache within her and opened wounds that were on the brink of healing.

Her train of thoughts strayed from the nostalgia as faint yell of her name from that all familiar voice sounded in her ears.

She turned around to see Naruto running towards her, Hinata's hand knotted with his own as she trailed behind him.

"Sakura-chaaaaan!" He yelled once more, before coming to a stop in front of Sakura and huffing lightly from his run. "Why are you on your own? I thought Ino and Sai were with you."

"They were, but Ino kept on trying to make advances on Sai, but he didn't realise it. Ino wanted me to leave them, so I did," She replied, before sighing exasperatedly, "Honestly. Sai doesn't even know how to talk to a person normally, let alone see through Ino's advances."

The three of them began to walk through the street, Naruto and Hinata still holding hands while Sakura continued to talk about her day.

"I-I hope it doesn't rain," Hinata remarked suddenly, her voice characteristically quiet and meek.

Sakura was caught off-guard by Hinata's comment. Her thoughts immediately trailed back to the past tanabata festivals, where she too hoped it wouldn't rain.

(_where she hoped that she and Sasuke would meet, like the two stars_.)

"Yeah. I hope so too," Sakura agreed in a soft, trance-like voice, her green eyes thoughtful and pensive as her lips stretched into a small, light smile.

As they turned the street, the faint sound of fireworks reverberated in her ears as she saw a bright flash of red and orange lights in the sky.

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She watched as Naruto's mouth widened into a gasp, before stretching into a broad grin as he marvelled at the sight of the fireworks mixing with the flecks of stars.

"Come on, Hinata-chan!" He clutched onto her hand tighter as he ran towards one of the various food stalls.

Her eyes trailed after their moving silhouettes, watching Naruto continuing to marvel at the ramen while Hinata flushed at their close proximity. Sakura smiled in earnest at their actions, reminding herself to reprimand Naruto later for dragging Hinata everywhere.

The happiness slowly left her face, her smile drifting from her face and leaving her forlorn in it's stead.

It was only then, as she watched the festival lights in bright lanterns flit across their happy faces, smiling and laughing, that she realised just how isolated she felt.

It was a feeling she had gotten used to.

It was a feeling that would remain with her for the rest of her life, no matter how much Ino or Naruto attempted to bring her out of this loneliness.

She felt a droplet of cool water drop onto her palm, followed by a few droplets.

'Sasuke is someone I shall never reach', she thinks, pensive but thankful for the memories. Thankful for experiencing love and the strength she gained from it.

Rain droplets fell lightly on her hair and kimono, more and more droplets descending from the clouds and dripping down the glowing lanterns and the multi-coloured paper streamers.

(_He is like a pleasant memory, as distant from me as Orihime is from Hikoboshi_.)

Idly, she wondered whether it would rain again the next _tanabata_.

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**A/N**: I'm not that happy with this oneshot, but oh well. I needed to write a sakura-centric/sasusaku/team7 oneshot, lol.

Anyways, here are the translations:

**Tanabata Festival**: (_also called the Star Festival_) A festival held on the 7th of July, which basically commemorates the romance of Orihime (aka the star Vega) and Hikoboshi (aka the star Altair). In this festival, people write about their loved ones on tanzaku (_see below_) and hang them on bamboo, or with other decorations. These are then burned at some point during the festival. My description is quite vague, so just go on wikipedia for more info. The link (type it without spaces):

http : // en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Tanabata

**Tanzaku**: Small pieces of paper that people write on.


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